Cigarette packing machine



July 17, 1934.

D. w. MOLINS 1,967,154

" CIGARETTE PACKING MACHINE Filed April 12. 1952' 3 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR MW Ma 1934- I v o. w. MOLINS 1,967,154

CIGARETTE PACKING MACHINE Filed A ril 12. 1932 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 W W m wINVENTOR July 17, 1934.- D. w. MOLINS 1,967,154

CIGARETTE PACKING MACHINE v Filed April 12. 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet sINVEWTO'R Patented July 17, 1934 CIGARETTE PACKING MACHINE DesmondWalter Molina, Bexley, England Application April '12; 1932', Serial No.604,829 In Great'Britain April 28, 1931 6 Claims. (Cl. 131-43) Thisinvention relates to cigarette making machines of the continuous rodtype, and has for its object to provide means whereby the tobacco may bearranged in the continuous rod produced by the machine to produce a rodhaving unfilled portions at intervals.

Tubes of fairly stiff paper are placed in the said unfilled portions sothat a cigarette having a tubular mouthpiece is obtained when the rod isout, or if desired, the cutting point may be so chosen that the portionof the cigarette which is placed in the mouth contains a small amount oftobacco, after which comes the hollow portion whichis then followed bythe bulk of the cigarette which is filled with tobacco in the usualmanner. This latter form of cigarette is intended to avoid the waste oftobacco which occurs with the average smoker who throws away fromone-third to one-quarter of the cigarette when it becomes too short toafford a pleasant and convenient smoke. I

The present invention consists of a cigarette making machine comprisingmeans. for loading a paper web with tobacco, means for dividing the longfiller of tobacco into separate portions with a gap between theportions, rod forming mechanism and cutting mechanism arranged to severthe rod at points located near to or within the hollow spaces to obtaincigarettes of the kind herein described.

The invention will be. more particularly described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:--

Fig. 1 is asection of a portion of a cigarette making machine showingone way of carrying the invention into effect.

Fig.2 is a view of Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrow A".

Fig. 3 is a detail of a portion of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 shows a portion of the paper web which is folded up around thetobacco to form a continuous rod.

Fig. 5 shows a section of one form of continuous rod manufactured by themachine.

Fig. 6 shows another form of rod. I

Fig. '7 is a perspective view-of a cigarette made from the rod shown. inFig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a diagram of an apparatus for applying pieces of stiif paperwhich form hollow tubes in the finished cigarette.

Fig. 9 shows a front elevation in diagrammatic form of a cigarettemachine having the invention applied thereto.

Referring to the drawings, the paper web 1 is carried beneath a tobaccofeeding mechanism 16 and receives the tobacco shower in the usual way,see Figures 1 and 9.

The trough 2 which guides the paper web beneath the tobacco feedingmechanism isof curved section, for example, semi-circular, so that theweb leaves the filling trough 2 beneath "the tobacco feed 16 in the formof a trough of paper carrying a quantity of tobacco which is uniformlydistributed along the length of the same.

I COIIVBYOD 5.-

I The combs are of a width approximately equal to the width of the guidetrough as shown in Fig.

'2 and are so moved that a pair of combs in contact with one another arecaused to enter the trough from above at the point B and pass into thetrough nearly as far as the bottom of the trough.

As the combs move along inthe same direction as the loaded web istravelling they are caused to separate from one another by any suitabledevice so that when the combs are approaching the point C at the end ofthe lower'path of the conveyor they are separated from one another bythe distance of mentioned above.

Under these circumstances a gap of is formed between each section of thefiller and the combs then move vertically upwards out of contact withthe tobacco filler so that they do not disturb the same.

The raising and'lowering 'of the combs into the. guide trough iseffected by causing the combs to travel along a guide 6, the separationof the rear comb from the front comb being effected by a spring 7 whichpulls the rear comb into the vertical position as soon as the guide 6permits this. A stop 8 is provided for controlling the rear comb when itno longer contacts with the guide.

After a pair'of combs have been withdrawn, from the trough theconveyorscarry the combs around at the end ofthe run and they return tothe point B where the guide 6 is so shaped as to press the points of thecomb into contact with one another as shown in Fig. 1.

After the gaps have been formed in the filler,

the loaded web passes to the rod forming mech- I anism which comprisesthe usual endless tape 17 and a gamiture or folder block 18 in which theweb is folded up around the filler to'form a circular rod and gum isapplied by the gum wheel 19 to the overlapping seam of the web rodforwardly, and thus pull the web along at the required rate. Thefinished rod is cut into suitable lengths by the cutting apparatus 22,and the cut lengths move on to a conveyor 23 which delivers them to theusual belt from which they are taken by the machine operator.

The mechanism for operating the combs is preferably driven from thecutting mechanism 17 of the machine so that the two mechanisms may betimed relatively to one another to cause the cigarettes to be cut at theparticular point desired. It will be appreciated that the relativetiming of the two mechanisms may be adjusted to give any requiredresult. For instance, where the finished cigarettes are tipped, it iscustomary to use a double length tip and cut the rod at a point midwayof the tip, in which case the gapsin the rod will be symmetricallydisposed about the cutting point. Similar remarks apply to cigaretteswhich have printing near to one end as it is usual to arrange the die tomake two impressions close to one another and cut the rod midway of thetwo impressions.

Again, it will be seen from the foregoing description that the cut maytake place at points adjacent to the gaps where it is desired to producecigarettes having tobacco at each end with a space in the middle or itmay take place within the actual gap where a cigarette having a tubemouth piece is required.

Such considerations naturally affect the timing of the cutting apparatusand although generally speaking, the rod is cut at equally spacedpoints, it is not absolutely essential that the spaces shall be equal.

The device described for forming the gaps in the filler is only given byway of example, and is obviously capable of considerable variationwithout departing from the principle of the invention.

Prior to the feeding of the paper web 1 to the tobacco feeding mechanism16, small patches 9 of comparatively stiff paper are gummed on to thepaper at suitable intervals so that when the web is formed into a circlethe patches of paper form the small tubes above referred to. The piecesof paper may be gummed to the web by the usual apparatus now used in thetrade for affixing mouthpiece tips to cigarettes.

A typical apparatus is shown in Fig. 8 in which the web 1 passes betweena roller 10 receiving gum from a bath 11 and a pressure roller 12, theroller 10 being engraved or otherwise formed to make patches of gum atthe required positions on the web 1.

The stiff paper is also fed as a web 13 to cutting mechanism 14 and thecut-off portions 9 contact with a web 1 at the instant the cuttingoperation ceases.

A pair of pressure rollers 15 cause the pieces of paper 9 to adhere tothe web 1 which thereafter passes into the filling channel of themachine as above-mentioned.

The width of the paper strip is narrower than the cigarette paper web,as shown in Fig. 4, to provide for the usual overlap of the paper whenthe cigarette is made up.

In Fig. 5, the tubes are comparatively short as each tube is to beincluded in a cigarette as shown in Fig. '7, but where it is desired tomake tube ended cigarettes the tube is made of double length asindicated in Fig. 6, and the rod is cut at the centre of the tubes toform tube cigarettes.

If desired, the hollow spaces in the loaded web may be filled with papertubes, wads of paper or absorbent material fed down .by any suitablemechanism.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a cigarette making machine, the combination with means for guidinga web of cigarette paper loaded with tobacco filler in a predeterminedpath, of means for engaging and separating the filler at spaced pointsto provide gaps interrupting the continuity of the filler.

2. In a cigarette making machine, the combination with means for guidinga web of cigarette paper loaded with tobacco filler in a predeterminedpath, of means for engaging and separating the filler at spaced pointsto provide gaps interrupting the continuity of the filler, means forforming the loaded web into a rod, and. means for thereafter severingthe web at spaced points.

3. In a cigarette making machine, the combination with means for feedinga web of cigarette paper in a predetermined path, of means locatedadjacent the path of movement of the web for applying at spacedintervals by adhesive a reinforcing strip to that face of the web whichis innermost in the finished cigarette, means for guiding the reinforcedweb when loaded with cigarette filler through a predetermined path,andmeans for thereafter engaging and separating the filler at the pointsof reinforcement of the web.

4. In a cigarette making machine, the combination with means for guidinga web of cigarette paper loaded with tobacco filler in a predeterminedpath, of means for engaging and separating the filler at spaced pointsto provide gaps interrupting the continuity of the filler, said meanscomprising two members supported for movement into and with the filler,and means for displacing said members relatively lengthwise of thefiller during movement of said members with the filler to effectseparation of the latter.

5. In a cigarette making machine, the combination with means for guidinga web of cigarette paper loaded with tobacco filler in a predeterminedpath, of means for engaging and separating the filler at spaced pointsto provide gaps interrupting the continuity of the filler, said meanscomprising two members supported for movement into and with the filler,means for displacing said members relatively lengthwise of the fillerduring movement of said members with the filler to effect separation ofthe latter, and a continuous conveyor for supporting said members.

6. In a cigarette making machine, the combination with means for guidinga web of cigarette paper loaded with tobacco filler in a predeterminedpath, of means for engaging and separating the filler at equally spacedpoints to provide gaps interrupting the continuity of the filler, saidmeans comprising two members supported for movement into and with thefiller, and means for displacing said members relatively lengthwise ofthe filler during movement of said members with the filler to effectseparation of the latter, said means comprising a conveyor so supportedthat a run thereof lies above and extends substantially parallel to thepath of movement of the web, a pair of members supported on saidconveyor and having filler piercing portions movable into and with saidfiller in closely adjacent relation, and means for separating thefillerpiercing portions of said members during movement thereof. withthe filler to effect separation of the latter.

DESMON'D WALTER MOLINS.

